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Monday, 29 December 2014

Just a quick blog post to talk about my thoughts on Patreon goals so far.

First of all, a big thanks to all the patrons so far. It's really encouraging to see such a positive start! I hope that I can reward your faith by making the game awesome, and now that the Xmas holidays are coming to an end I can redouble my efforts.

Right now the milestones & rewards on Patreon are somewhat work-in-progress. As I've mentioned on some forums, I'm planning to make some changes soon.

I'm planning to keep "Prove me wrong" as the $3000 milestone and it's an important one. Patreon's FAQ says that creators can hope for around 90% of pledged money because of failed payments and Patreon's cut itself. That means $3k/month is around £20000/year. That's not a fortune, especially by the standards of the IT industry, but it's enough for me to live on.
That would mean I could treat Newlife like an actual job. Part of that means doing things for the backers that don't necessarily interest me personally. So, things like anal sex, new clothing slots (like shoes) or letting the player hit a circus clown in the face with a custard pie and then have sex with them - they'd all be available to be voted on then and I'd dedicate some time to implementing the ones the supporters want most.

Of course it's quite a big deal to aim for that much in backing, but there are other adult indie developers making as much or more. My ambition is for Newlife to be one of the best indie erotic games out there, so I think I can aim to reach the same level of patronage as them.

Some people told me there's a bit of a big gap leading up to that though. Absolutely true! I can't expect to rocket up to those sort of levels of patronage immediately and I expect it'll take quite some time and quite a lot of new content & improvements to the game. In the next week I'll be adding new milestones for lower support levels.
I'll also be working on individual patron rewards. I think I might scrap the current $25 reward (which no-one's taken yet anyway) and I'll need to add at least a couple of new ones. I have a few ideas, and some kind people gave me some advice on the forums, but if any of you have suggestions for new milestone or patron rewards then let me know!

One reward that I am definitely keeping and that'll become more and more important as development continues is the Voter one. Although I said I'd start voting on major updates starting with 0.4 I actually want to do a smaller trial run first. I'll be sorting that out early next year with a vote in January.
I haven't decided 100% what the vote will be on. Most likely, it'll be which free-time skill gets chosen to have content such as special events added as part of the 0.3 work. The choices would be things like fashion, dance, cooking, martial arts and maybe some suggestions from players.

The next version is about half done. I'm not sure if you'll see it before the new year or not, but it shouldn't be too far along. This next one will give you some things to spend your money on that aren't clothes, and I'm just about to start work on a new random event as well.

Tuesday, 23 December 2014

You might have noticed there was a bug in 0.2.1 where exiting the new scene by returning to the makeout got the player stuck in a loop. Because of this, I've put out a bugfix release: you can get it using the download links to the right as usual.

This one is only available in jar format. I'll try to get the next release in exe too. In any case, if you have the correct version of Java to run the exe then the jar should run fine on your computer too.

As usual, saved characters & games from older versions won't work in this one.

The full (and rather short) changelog is:

Fixed various text problems. Thanks to Mdf & Cubano for reporting some issues.

Fixed a bug with scene transitions when leaving the oral/handjob/titjob scene.

For the next update, I'm adding some code that will let the man talk to you while you're giving him oral sex, or handjobs, or titjobs - anything in the newest scene.
To do this I'm writing a whole bunch of short sentences such as "he tells you that he loves the feel of his sweetheart's mouth". Each one will have some conditions such as traits, personality, situation etc.

I've already written a few dozen, but if there's something you want your man to say then suggest it in the comments! Perhaps a compliment you'd like to hear, or something sweet and romantic, or maybe something a bit mean for when you're hooking up with a jerk.

Be specific if you want - it's fine to have some lines that only appear in certain circumstances. And if you're reading this post after the release I'm talking about has already gone out, you can still make suggestions - there's no reason I can't add new lines in later updates.

Sunday, 21 December 2014

Newlife 0.2.1 is now available and you can get it using one of the links to the right of the blog.As usual saved games & characters from earlier versions won't work in this one. Changelog:

Fixed lots of text issues. Thanks to phantombird from
tfgamessite and cubano & engai from HF for reporting these.

Men without 'bad' personalities now get reduced chance of
having the bad-tasting sperm trait – this is now 1/3 as likely for
them. This isn't realistic at all, but I think that players who are
building a tender romance with their boyfriend are probably not too
happy if his spunk turns out to taste disgusting. The chance of a
man having especially tasty sperm is the same as before and isn't
affected by personality.

Fixed a logic bug that was stopping morning shower makeouts
having the proper transition back to the main scene.

Added the change requested by Mystery_99X from the
tfgamessite forums. I suspect the term “Falcon Punch” might be
copyright and so can't be used in Newlife, but you can now give a
certain client what for if he takes liberties and you meet the
requirements. Hint: you need to be in good physical shape so choose
your body type carefully.

Changed 'stop makeout' to use a willpower test instead of
being automatically disabled at a particular arousal level.

Improved the main menu so you can click on the link to the
blog and it should open in your default browser.

Three new traits for the player character. More to come in
later updates (probably).

One new trait for NPCs. More to come in future versions.

One new scene ;-)

Finally the change you've all been waiting for – added a
link to the Newlife Patreon in the main menu.

Of course each new release usually comes with a host of typos. Please report any issues here or on the forums. Enjoy the new version :-)

A few players had asked about if there was a way to support Newlife. With the Christmas holidays coming up and people in a gift-giving mood, I decided this was a good time to set up a Patreon account. Unless I've massively messed it up, you should be able to set up patronage here.

I'll probably be too frantic with holiday commitments to put out any new content on Christmas day itself, so I'm afraid Newlife players will just have to take their Xmas present from me a little bit early. I'll be posting again about that very soon ;-)

Tuesday, 16 December 2014

Newlife 0.2.0 is now available and you can get it using one of the links to the right of the blog.

The JAR version should be the first choice for most people, and it's the only one that will work for non-windows users. Jars will also work in windows too of course.
If your OS tells you it's an unrecognised file type then you need to install Java - you can get Java here.
The EXE version still needs Java. This should prompt you to download it instead of just being unrecognised though. The exe will only work for windows users, and some browsers block exe downloads because they're a common format for malicious files - if you're having download problems then get the jar instead.

The big changes in 0.2.0 are actually behind the scenes. I've made some extensive changes to how Newlife works internally but there are probably fewer differences that'll be visible to players compared to some earlier releases.
I had actually planned to add more content to this release, but because some changes took longer than expected I decided to delay them to later versions and put this out now.
The code changes for 0.2.0 are important for future development though, and they'll eventually let me add new clothing and make some fun improvements to NPC actions and AI.

As usual saved files & characters from older versions won't work in 0.2.0.

Changelog:

Fixed a bug where the “it's getting late” text could
appear twice.

Various text bug fixes. Thanks to Cubano, Souldead341 &
dm2bf for reporting some of these.

Increased the size of some panels in the character generation
screens as a “quick-fix” for mac users not seeing all the
checkboxes

Made the Donate to Charity option available from the Manage Outfits
screen, not just when going shopping – thanks to dm2bf for this
suggestion. Also renamed the button to make it more obvious what it
does.

Added another possible response to telling Ivy your name.

Extensive reworking of how some types of NPC actions are
handled in certain scenes. This will make it much easier to add some
types of content in future releases.

Capped arousal increases from certain NPC actions. Men will
tend to be further away from orgasm on starting sex now, so sex
should usually take longer. These changes are likely to need work to
balance them in future releases.

Added some new NPC actions to makeout scenes using the new
code framework.

Thursday, 4 December 2014

Newlife 0.1.4 is now available for download - you can get it from the usual link on the right of the blog.

As usual, saved games & templates from older versions won't work with this one.

Changelog:

Clothing details pane in the outfit screen now scrolls.

Ambitious characters now get a large stress reduction from
bring promoted. This applies to both ways of getting promotions,
although only the automatic promotion (where you don't have to
persuade your boss) has special text for it. Refusing a promotion
does not reduce stress.

Improved separation of different characters in the “display
characters” output for most important scenes.

“Amber” appeared twice on the list of eye colours for
white characters - fixed.

Fixed a bug that was stopping event pre-requisites from being
properly taken into account when choosing random events.

Fixed a bug that sometimes stopped clothes being added to
outfits immediately after being bought.

Fixed underwear descriptions so you shouldn't see references
to “pairs of thong”

Added some text for pregnant women buying drinks in clubs

Stopped pregnant women getting drunk on dates in town.

Fixed some issues with sex scene descriptions. Thanks to
souldead341 from the tfgamessite forums for reporting these.

Added text for when the player loses their virginity cowgirl
style: thanks for Cubano from HF for reporting that this was
missing.

Fixed various typos etc. Credit is due to Cubano from HF for
reporting a whole load of these

Added special text for the “wrap legs” action with very
fat lovers: as suggested by Cubano (again), and also because I
hadn't written much thin girl + fat man text recently ;-)

New random event chain.

Shop & clothing lists are now sorted.

New scenes for spending the night with someone and for the
next morning.

Made it a bit easier to get your lovers to spend the night

The “Sleep Together” and the friendly “Say Goodbye”
actions for dates in your home are now available when you're nearing
the end of the night, and not just straight after sex. The old “ask
him to leave” action has been renamed “kick him out” and has
slightly stronger negative effects on your relationship. Having sex
also no longer ends your dates at home now.

Some of the more complex scenes haven't had every possible path exhaustively tested, so bugs, typos, spacing issues and punctuation errors may have slipped through. Please report any that you find. Thanks for playing, and have fun!

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

I had some messages asking about the new orgasm options that were added in the last update. It's impossible to get all of them with one character, so people who always use the same traits were only seeing a few. Here's the full list:

Passionate : The traditional "screaming orgasm". The obvious way to have this available is to take the Passionate Lover trait, but you can also get it if you're having a really really good time ;)

Enthusiastic : Not quite so loud but much more physical. For when you really want to let loose and thrash around a lot! This is the orgasm for those passionate girls who are annoyed that the passionate orgasm isn't unique to them - it's only available with the Passionate Lover trait.

Quiet : The less-demonstrative orgasm for the less-passionate woman. This doesn't mean you come in complete silence, just that you don't scream at the top of your voice about it. Not available for Passionate Lovers. Keeping quiet about it is just not their style.

Intimate : The romantic orgasm, where you hold him so tight it's like you never want to let go. Maybe you don't. Romantic women will have this as a choice more often, but anyone can have an intimate orgasm if the feelings are there.

Surprised : This is the cute orgasm, for when you're so sweet and innocent that every climax comes as a surprise to you. Or for when you like to act all sweet and innocent and pretend it's a surprise. Everyone gets this option if their lover makes them climax when they're losing their virginity, but if you want to be taken by surprise several times every Saturday night then take the Cute trait.
Or be Hard to Please. When you don't orgasm very often, it's kind of an unfamiliar thing to happen.

Hidden : For when you really don't want him to see you come - only a common choice for shy girls. You can also choose to hide it if you don't actually like the man you're with so he doesn't realise he's made you feel good. Of course if you don't like him then maybe you shouldn't let him inside you in the first place...
Not available for passionate girls. They have no chance of hiding it successfully. All that crying out and thrashing around is a dead giveaway.

Reluctant : For.... when.... you... just... don't...want... to... orgasmohmygodthatssogooddon'tstop! Well, you can't actually force yourself not to come in Newlife, but you can try. This is a choice for girls who are trying their hardest to hold onto their masculinity. Although not so hard that they're resisting the urge to have sex with men.
You can also be reluctant about if if you're with someone you don't like. But why would you be with someone like that? It's not as if he has an enormous trouser snake or something. Oh? He does? Well carry on then.

Tuesday, 2 December 2014

Hi all! I'm still hard at work on the next release. After finishing half of the most important new scene I decided I didn't like the structure I was using, so I'm scrapping it and starting again.
Apart from that it's proceeding well and you can still expect the next version sometime this week.